Starting in May of 2010 I began a journey to lose 100 pounds. I began this blog to hold me accountable and to allow me to journal my experience. I also hope that it helps inspire other people to lose weight and exercise. Since starting I have decided to increase my goal to 110 pounds.

My Weight Loss Progress

Saturday, May 22, 2010

So today I was at a baby shower and I met some girls that don't live too far from me. They were telling me about this program in Maryville called Weekend Warrior. It is a Jillian Michaels style 90-minute boot camp two Saturdays a month. It is for people of all sizes and ages and the best part about it is that it is only $10. I got totally stoked while talking to them and I can't wait to try it. I told them about my blog so hopefully they can become followers.

When I got home I googled "weekend warrior" and read up about the trainer. She has a blog, it is http://tammyewright.wordpress.com. She also does small group personal training for $10-$15 an hour. I would love to go once a week, to keep me motivated! I don't think they are doing a session next weekend because of Memorial and the next weekend we have 5 family members from Idaho coming into town. As soon as I can go though, I will post again and let you know what I think! Sounds exciting.

So today I bit the dust on the concrete and hurt both of my knees pretty bad. My right knee is very swollen and my left inner leg by the knee is totally black and blue. It pretty much hurts just to walk. Don't think I'll be able to do any working out for at least 48 hours. I am icing them both though and hoping for a quick recovery. I don't want them to get any worse though. When it happened I seriously thought that I cracked my patella, but I was at a baby shower when it happened so I was tough and tried to brush if off. I kind of felt like I was going to pass out when I got up though.

I am really pissed off about it! I am looking forward to my workouts and not wanting to take a break. I keep thinking of Miggy on Biggest Loser and how she started working out two days after her appendectomy. Maybe I can do some arm workouts, some sit ups or leg lifts. I am needing my last chance workout before I weigh in tomorrow.

Friday, May 21, 2010

So my friend sent me a text saying that she was reading this book "Women, Food and God" and that I should check it out. I had never heard of the book but thought the next time I went to the book store (Now that we live in the country and have our two kids we usually only make it to B&N about once every 6 weeks, we used to go all the time, maybe it's time for a date night there) I would look for it. Later that day I went to Walmart to pick up a couple of things and low and behold there was an entire rack of these books.

I threw it in the cart, not really knowing anything about it. So far, I have only read the prologue and first two chapters but the gist of it is that we all eat for a reason and usually it is not hunger. It is usually something mental, something emotional, a way to deal with issues. After I am done reading it, I will be giving it a formal book review. Not sure if I will agree with all of it but an interesting perspective if nothing else. Does make you think. Even yesterday I stopped to think..why am I eating this??

So here are some pictures of what has been keeping me going. Being organized and having handy snacks, a food scale (I weigh everything, this one was not very expensive, it is digital and the same one they use on Biggest Loser..I love it!), and a big container of water to keep me hydrated.

I am really enjoying these special K crackers. To be honest they aren't my favorite cracker and they are a little bland in flavor but you get 25 of them for 2 points. I am loving them with some garlic hummus. Really you don't need that great of a cracker if you are having hummus because it is so flavorful.

I bought some granola and some granola flakes and have been adding them to yogurt. It makes it a lot more filling and it tastes great.

Having handy baggies that are already precounted of carrots and almonds is nice so you can always just grab something quick. I also measure out my granola and count out my crackers and put them in snack bags as well. Then I am not tempted to eat more crackers and we all know that if you have an open box of crackers on your lap that more than likely you aren't only eating one serving.

Dark Chocolate Bliss bars. A serving is 6 pieces for 4 points. I only have two pieces. They melt in your mouth and give you that yummy goodness when you are on the edge.

I previously posted about the deli thin bread that I am enjoying but now I am also in love with Bagel thins. I love a bagel with a little whipped cream cheese or to enjoy a bagel sandwich. 110 calories!

Well, those are some of my new tips but mostly just watching portions. For me have it already portioned out and easily available is keeping me from cheating!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Well, today was my first time every trying Zumba. For those of you that have never heard of it, it is a pretty high intensity aerobic dance workout to latin music. It focuses on salsa, mambo, etc. It was really fun and I liked it a lot. It was actually a pretty hard workout too. I felt like it was good though because my heart rate never got so high that I felt like I would die but by the end of the class I was having a hard time keeping up as my endurance was fading.

When I first got to the class they asked if there were any first timers. I raised my hand, the heaviest in the room, and the instructor said "there is a beginners class, while zumba is designed for all levels of fitness, it may be a little tricky but try your best". I wanted to say, "Hey Lady, I took dance for almost 15 years and I can probably shake it better than you". Yeah, not to be boastful but there wasn't anyone in the room that could Zumba any better other than the instructor. I was in a morning class so majority of the people there were older than me, well all of them were older than me and only about 3 people in the room had a lot of rhythm. This made it a little bit hard because unless you had a good view of the instructor, you could not trust that the others in the class were doing it right.

I had a lot of fun and will definitely be going back next week. After the class, the instructor came up to me and said that she was impressed how well I held my own. That made me happy. The class is challenging and I was by no means perfect at the moves. I do like that it seems like there are several dances that are repeated in other classes. I think if I keep going, I could be come a master at Zumba! haha. I'll keep you posted. The dance moves were fairly simple but fast paced and you do have to learn how to move your hips latin style.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Here are a few updated pics of me and my kiddos. I was hoping to give you a progress picture but this isn't the best pic for that since I am mostly wearing black and you can't really see any progress. I am going to have Travis take another pic soon and will post a before pic and a current pic.

Well, another two pounds down this week. Yippee. I am officially down 16.8 in 5 weeks since I began Weight Watchers. In someways I am so happy as I know I am losing the amount that I should be losing but it still feels very slow. It really is going to take me a year. The biggest loser has kept me so motivated on the treadmill but in other ways it almost sets unrealistic expectations for weight loss. I mean some of those people have lost 100 pounds in 9 weeks. I just want to get on the scale one day and it be like -5.

I am still going strong though and haven't even thought for one minute about giving up. I am going to Zumba tomorrow, I can't wait. I'll do a post about it soon. Thanks for all the support. Keep it coming!